Harry Potter makes it into the World Book Encyclopedia 2001 Edition.

Hasbro has announced some of the Harry Potter toys they’ll be showcasing at Toy Fair 2001 next week: HARRY POTTER: Hasbro is thrilled to offer exciting games and toys based on the worldwide literary phenomenon, HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER’S STONE. The line includes electronic handheld games from TIGER such as the HARRY POTTER BOOK …read more!

Australia’s The Age has an editorial today about the banning of the Harry Potter book series at the Nambour Christian Outreach College.

AICN has a great interview with the screenwriter for the Harry Potter movie, Steven Kloves. Lots and lots of talk about the movie, a little security in that he’s sticking true to the books, news that he’s pretty far along on the screenplay for “Chamber of Secrets” and much more. Definitely a must-read.

Wow. I’ll say it again: WOW. Pojo.com has gotten what appears to be exclusive info about Tiger Electronics upcoming Spring Harry Potter toy line: The Harry Potter Quidditch Game ($34.99 SRP) is built into a Quidditch broom that can extend to 48 inches. Its motion sensors let players control the game’s dot-matrix screen by riding …read more!

AOL Time Warner gave Wall Streeters a sneak peek of footage from the Harry Potter movie – the first outside of the studio. We should only be so lucky: “Levin and chairman Steve Case were on hand with co-chief operating officers Bob Pittman and Dick Parsons and an army of division heads. Warner Bros. chairman …read more!

As we have been predicting since early December 2000, AOL Time Warner announced today that they will be closing all 130 Warner Brothers Studio Stores across the country. With the closure of their Web site as well, we predict that the restriction for licensees selling only to retailers with brick-and-mortar stores will change and that …read more!

The American Library Association announced today that complaints against the Harry Potter series have tripled in the past year. Apparently the “ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom received 646 challenges in 2000, up from 472 in 1999″.

LEGO Media International has announced today that they will jointly produce two children’s software titles along with Warner Bros. Consumer Products based on the Harry Potter book series. The software will be part of the LEGO Creator series. The first title is due out this Fall, 2001, to coincide with the first movie and will …read more!